He Shall Come Again
by Gene-gnome
Summary: Scully is forced to question her beliefs when a young boy is found nailed to a cross. Doggett points to simple murder- but nothing is as it seems.
1. Prologue

Annette's vision blurred with the onset of more tears. Her Massachusetts home was crowded, full of blue uniforms and other sad faces much like her own. A salty drop of water from her eye fell onto the stack of fliers laying on the kitchen table. Her son's beautiful face smiled back at her from the now damp paper. He had been missing for a week now. Would they ever find him?  
Her sobs were cut short by a harsh ringing sound. It was the phone again. Annette didn't care. It was probably just another deadbeat homeless man, wanting a piece of the meaningless cash reward. They didn't care about her poor sweet Jacob. Nobody did, she thought. He's gone. The look of hope on her husband David's face suggested otherwise.  
"Hello?" inquired David, trying desperately to conceal his sorrow and anxiety.  
Only a small whisper came back in reply. "Your son is waiting for you."  
David lept to his feet. "Where? Where is he?"  
"He is with Saint John in the House of God."  
"Saint John's Church? Is my son at the church?" Not even anger could hide the tears. The mysterious man had his only son. They could not have another. "I need to know! Where is my son? Where are you keeping him?"  
"Only God keeps him now," the voice answered. The phone went dead.  
David turned to face the crowd. "He's at the church."  
No more than five minutes later, ten police cars surrounded Saint John's Catholic Church in Boston. The officers, followed closely by David and Annette, cautiously entered the old place of worship. The place appeared dark and deserted with the exception of hundreds of lit candles, which gave the church an eerie glow. Mounted on the wall behind the altar was a large wooden crucifix, but in the place of Jesus, a small, limp body had been nailed to the cross. Annette had found her son at last. He would never feel pain again.  
  



	2. Case Opened

Several days later, a white Chrysler pulled into the driveway of David and Annette Johanneson. A petite woman with red hair stepped out, followed by a taller man with short brown hair. They are Special Agents Dana Scully and John Doggett, experts on the paranormal. The two agents approached the door, but it was opened before they could knock. There stood Annette Johanneson.  
  
"Are you from the FBI?" she asked, her voice full of a sorrow beyond anything the agents had heard before.  
  
"Yes ma'am," replied the man. "I'm Special Agent Doggett, and this my partner Special Agent Scully. We're here to talk to you about your son."  
  
The woman sighed. "Come in."  
  
Upon entering the house, Scully's senses were overwhelmed. Police still hung about the house, and friends and neighbors had all come to offer their condolences. There was such a deep sense of grief in one little house. Annette interrupted her pondering.  
  
"Please, come and sit down." The agents took a seat on a small, cozy sofa. Decorating the walls were cross-stitches of various Bible verses, proclaiming the word of God. Jacob had obviously grown up in a religious household. That seemed to rule out Scully's one major theory: a sick, twisted religious fanatic had tried to show an atheist child the way of the Lord. Nothing seemed to fit. Scully came back to reality. Doggett had already started questioning the woman.  
  
"This may sound sort of silly, but does your family have any known enemies?"  
  
Annette shook her head as David came to join her. "We live in a very safe, loving community. We wouldn't have it any other way. Everyone likes us fairly well, especially David. He was always helping out any way he could."  
  
"How long had he been missing when you found him at the Church?"  
  
"A week."  
  
"And there were no substantial tips before the mysterious phone call that night?"  
  
"No. There were tips, but they were all people trying to make a few bucks. They didn't care about finding my son."  
  
Agent Scully rose unexpectedly. "Thank you, Mrs. Johanneson. Agent Doggett and I will be back shortly. There are some things we have to discuss."  
  
A confused Doggett followed Scully out of the room. "Agent Scully, what is going on? We're not done here."  
  
Agent Scully sighed. "The police aren't done here Agent Doggett, but we are. This isn't an X-file. We don't belong here."  
  
"Agent Scully, this isn't like you. A young boy was nailed to a cross! You don't see anything strange here?" The argument was cut short by the sound of a phone ringing. Both agents went quiet. Suddenly, they heard Annette scream from the living room.  
  
"What is it?" shouted Scully as she and Doggett entered the room. Annette had dropped the phone, and now stood shaking by her husband.  
  
"It was him," she sobbed. "The same voice David heard."  
  
"What did he say?" demanded David and Agent Doggett at nearly the same time.  
  
Annette sank to the floor. "Christ is died. Christ is risen."  
  
Scully and Doggett pulled up to the local cemetery ten minutes later, flanked by several police cars. As they approached the Johanneson family mausoleum, they found the door ajar, nearly hanging off its hinges. Scully entered first. She gasped. There stood Jacob Johanneson, wounds still fresh and bleeding. He was crying, but the tears were not of sorrow. 


	3. Baffled

David Johanneson stood over his son's hospital bed. A week ago, he had been missing. Days ago, he had died. Hours ago, he had turned up alive in the cemetery after committing such a great feat of strength, even the FBI agents were baffled. The coffin lid had been thrown halfway across the room. The door to the mausoleum was no longer attached to the wall. The hinges had been broken, not removed. But his son was alive. That was all that mattered.  
  
Annette sat in a nearby chair, discomforted by the night's events. Her son was no athlete. How had he practically destroyed a mausoleum? She didn't know. She didn't care. He was her baby, her only, and he had come back from the dead in what could only be described as a miracle, a gift from the Heavenly Father whom she trusted and loved so much. He was up there somewehere, watching and smiling.  
  
Agent Doggett approached Scully as she stood outside Jacob's hospital room. "What do you think, Scully?"  
  
"I don't know what to think anymore," she said with a large sigh.  
  
"Is it an X-file?" Doggett implored.  
  
Scully nodded. "I was wrong. Leave me alone."  
  
Her fellow agent came near to exploding. "Is something wrong Agent Scully? Every case we work on elicits some sort of strange theory from you. Now, a boy comes back from the dead, and you've got nothing. Not a word. That seems just a little odd to me."  
  
"I'm pregnant Agent Doggett. There is no father. And now I come to this nice town where a boy has been nailed to a cross and brought back to life. Does this story ring any bells?"  
  
"You're scared that your pregnancy has something to do with Jesus?" Doggett looked surprised.  
  
Scully looked deep into his unblinking eyes. "I'm a strong Catholic. The thought of a baby without a father scares me to death. Never mind this boy who happens to push aside a stone door that was covering his grave."  
  
"Agent Scully, there has to be some sort of explanation for this, logical or not. There have been recorded cases of religious hoaxes. It's not unlikely."  
  
"This goes far beyond stigmata, Agent Doggett," Scully snapped. "If that's what you're implying." With that, she left her confused partner alone with his thoughts in the hallway.  
  
Scully kneeled down in the small hospital chapel. She sought the answers that came from within herself, from the dark recesses of the soul that are left unexplained by science and criminology. Only religion had ever ventured to those areas, or attempted to explain what one might find there. Scully was forced to follow her instincts as an FBI agent. She would find the answers sooner or later. Little did she know that the answers would come to her, and sooner than she ever had expected. Behind her, Jacob Johanneson raised his hand. 


End file.
